Robot Building For Dummies
by Arrick, Roger; Stevenson, NancyEdition: 1st
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2003-10-10
Publisher(s): For Dummies
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Summary
Discover what robots can do and how they work Find out how to build your own robot and program it to perform tasks Ready to enter the robot world? This book is your passport! It walks you through building your very own little metal assistant from a kit, dressing it up, giving it a brain, programming it to do things, even making it talk. Along the way, you'll gather some tidbits about robot history, enthusiasts' groups, and more. The Dummies Way * Explanations in plain English * "Get in, get out" information * Icons and other navigational aids * Tear-out cheat sheet * Top ten lists * A dash of humor and fun
Author Biography
Roger Arrick is president and founder of Arrick Robotics, a maker of PC-based motion control systems for a variety of scientific applications. Robot building is his hobby and his passion.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| About This Book | p. 1 |
| Conventions Used in This Book | p. 1 |
| What You're Not to Read | p. 2 |
| Foolish Assumptions | p. 2 |
| How This Book Is Organized | p. 3 |
| Icons Used in This Book | p. 5 |
| Where to Go from Here | p. 6 |
| Getting Started with Robotics | p. 7 |
| So, You Want to Build a Robot? | p. 9 |
| The Robotics Revolution | p. 10 |
| Robot Uses | p. 12 |
| Plotting a Path | p. 15 |
| Starting with a Kit | p. 15 |
| Selecting a Robot Kit | p. 16 |
| Moving Up to Robot Construction Sets | p. 24 |
| Building a Robot from Scratch | p. 25 |
| Economics and Time Considerations | p. 28 |
| Building Your First Robot | p. 31 |
| Robot Kit to the Rescue | p. 31 |
| On Your Mark, Get Set | p. 32 |
| Let the Building Begin | p. 36 |
| Testing and Troubleshooting | p. 38 |
| Soccer Jr. in Action | p. 40 |
| Learning Your Robot Chops | p. 42 |
| Baby Robot Steps | p. 48 |
| Programmable Robot Prep | p. 49 |
| Setting Up Your Robot Workshop | p. 51 |
| Creating an Ideal Work Area | p. 51 |
| Getting Organized | p. 53 |
| Tool Time | p. 54 |
| How to Solder | p. 62 |
| Anti-Static Considerations: Can't Touch This! | p. 66 |
| A Robot Library | p. 68 |
| The Nuts and Bolts of Robot Building | p. 71 |
| Pieces and Parts | p. 71 |
| What's It All Made Of? | p. 72 |
| Nuts and Bolts | p. 74 |
| Motors for Locomotion | p. 75 |
| Making Sense of Sensors | p. 82 |
| Electronics Primer | p. 83 |
| Power to the Robots | p. 94 |
| A Programming Primer | p. 99 |
| Software and Computers | p. 99 |
| Anatomy of a Program | p. 102 |
| Useful Code Snippets | p. 105 |
| Useful Subroutines | p. 107 |
| Okay, I Programmed ... Now What? | p. 110 |
| Building a Programmable Robot | p. 111 |
| Preparing to Build a Programmable Robot | p. 113 |
| Robot Components Overview | p. 114 |
| Assembly Process Overview | p. 117 |
| Organizing and Prepping the Parts | p. 118 |
| To Paint or Not to Paint? | p. 120 |
| From Whiskers to Wheels | p. 123 |
| Starting with Whiskers | p. 123 |
| Attaching the Drive Motor | p. 125 |
| Dealing with Wheels | p. 126 |
| If I Only Had a Brain | p. 133 |
| Adding the Controller | p. 133 |
| Finishing Touches | p. 138 |
| Turning A Robot On | p. 139 |
| Introducing Your Robot to Your Computer | p. 141 |
| Working with the Basic Stamp Editor | p. 141 |
| Running the Built-In Programs | p. 146 |
| Troubleshooting | p. 150 |
| Augmenting Your Programmable Robot | p. 155 |
| Expanding Your Robot's Universe | p. 157 |
| Adding Rear Whiskers | p. 157 |
| Adding an Expansion Board | p. 165 |
| Building a Motorized Head | p. 172 |
| Accessorizing | p. 177 |
| Making Your Robot See the Light | p. 185 |
| Making Sense of Light Sensors | p. 185 |
| Pulling Together the Light-Sensing Hardware | p. 187 |
| Writing the Software That Interprets the Hardware | p. 195 |
| Putting Your Sensor to Work: Real-World Applications | p. 198 |
| More Light Sensor Ideas | p. 205 |
| Some Like It Hot | p. 209 |
| Sensational Temperature Sensors | p. 209 |
| Building the Temperature-Sensor System | p. 212 |
| The Brains of the Beast: The Software | p. 218 |
| Turning Up the Heat: Real-World Applications | p. 222 |
| Halt! Who Goes There? | p. 233 |
| Detecting Motion: An Overview | p. 233 |
| Building the Motion-Detector System | p. 235 |
| The Brains of the Beast: The Software | p. 244 |
| Real-World Applications | p. 247 |
| Yakety-Yak: Adding Speech to Your Robot | p. 251 |
| Straight Talk about Speech Technology | p. 252 |
| Building a Speech System | p. 255 |
| Creating Sound Software | p. 263 |
| Building Your Robot's Vocabulary | p. 268 |
| Putting Speech to Work | p. 268 |
| Talking about Robots | p. 270 |
| I See You | p. 271 |
| All about Video Systems | p. 271 |
| Pretesting | p. 281 |
| Mounting a Board Camera | p. 282 |
| Creating a Tethered Video System | p. 289 |
| Creating a Wireless Video System | p. 294 |
| Wireless Data Links | p. 297 |
| Camera Positioning | p. 298 |
| Applications Using the Video System | p. 302 |
| A Robot's Vision | p. 304 |
| Controlling Your Robot from Afar | p. 305 |
| All about Remote Control | p. 305 |
| The Lowdown on RC Systems | p. 307 |
| Purchasing an RC System | p. 311 |
| Installing an RC System | p. 312 |
| Half and Half: RC and Autonomous Behavior | p. 322 |
| The Part of Tens | p. 327 |
| Ten Excellent Parts Suppliers | p. 329 |
| Tower Hobbies | p. 329 |
| Supercircuits | p. 330 |
| Mouser Electronics | p. 330 |
| Parallax | p. 331 |
| McMaster-Carr | p. 332 |
| Stock Drive Products | p. 332 |
| Radio Shack | p. 333 |
| 80/20 | p. 334 |
| Edmund Scientific | p. 334 |
| Parts Suppliers a la Carte | p. 335 |
| Ten Safety Pointers | p. 339 |
| Cut Away from Your Body | p. 339 |
| Avoid the Pinch Points | p. 339 |
| Slipping Is Bad | p. 340 |
| Soldering Pitfalls | p. 340 |
| Hot Glue Follies | p. 340 |
| Super Glue on You | p. 341 |
| Dancing around the Drill | p. 341 |
| AC Stands for Are You Crazy! | p. 341 |
| Discharging Capacitors | p. 342 |
| Clipping Nippers | p. 342 |
| Index | p. 343 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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